This chapter wasn't exactly what I had in mind but it kind of wrote itself. It definitely dives deeper into both Blair and Jackson and I promise, there will be more interaction between the two in the next chapter. To be honest, I'm kind of nervous about writing Jackson. I don't know how! Please read, comment and enjoy!

…

Chapter Three –

The Archfield wasn’t the nicest hotel she had ever stayed in but it was still upscale and it would suffice for the few days she would be in Seattle. She actually didn’t know how long she would be there and had only reserved the room for a couple of days. She had to go back to work, and New York, eventually. She couldn’t just keep hopping on planes and flying away whenever things got hard. Just because he was back from Paris and had been sending her texts ever since, asking her where she was, she refused to let Chuck Bass keep her away. New York City was her home and that city was big enough for the both of them.

Still, though, it wasn’t as if she hated Seattle. She knew nothing about it to hate it. Yet. Anything she ever heard about it involved constant rain and coffee shops everywhere. And also… Seattle had Jackson and as far as Blair could tell, there was nothing wrong with Jackson Avery.

As she rode the elevator up to the tenth floor where her room was, she smiled faintly to herself and her fingertips touched her lips. She couldn’t believe that he had kissed her. Or that she had kissed him. She didn’t kiss random guys and though they had been talking to one another for the past two weeks, he was still a stranger. She had wanted to ask him why he had kissed her but the drive from the airport to the hotel had been quiet. It was strange though. It hadn’t been tense or uncomfortable. A song had been playing softly and he had been tapping his thumb on the steering wheel along to the beat.

Blair had tried to look at her surroundings as he drove but it had been dark and raining and they were on the expressway.

When they pulled up to the Archfield Hotel, Jackson got out of the SUV as a valet attendant opened her door for her and helped her step out. Jackson had gotten her suitcases out of the back for her and she took one from him and together, they wheeled them into the hotel lobby, Jackson telling the attendings that he would be right back.

He had hung back when she had gone to the front desk and had checked in and then, she had come back, standing in front of him, neither saying anything for a moment or two. She knew that now was her chance to ask him why he had kissed her at the airport but at the same time, she didn’t know if she wanted to know. She was curious, yes, but there was a list of answers that he could give her that she wasn’t sure she would be able to handle. Chuck used to kiss her to manipulate her, when he wanted her to do something for him, and though Jackson didn’t seem like the type of guy to do that… she couldn’t be sure. Because, she reminded herself, she didn’t know him.

“Thank you,” she said instead. “For driving me.”

“I work until midnight tonight. Can I stop by afterwards?” He asked and it caught her off guard though she wasn’t sure why it would. Even if she hadn’t said it, she was in Seattle, after all, because of him. “Or will you be sleeping by then?”

“Honestly, I have no idea what time it is,” she said with a slight shake of her head. “I’m not even sure if it’s today, yesterday or tomorrow. The time changes are throwing me off balance.” She couldn’t look away from his eyes as she spoke. It was as if his eyes had a permanent hold on hers and she didn’t know how to break away. It was so strange and she wasn’t sure if she liked it or not. “I’m in room 1022,” she then blurted out and she watched as he slowly broke out into a small smile. “I’ll be awake.”

“Then…” Jackson stepped forward, his hand slipping onto the side of her neck, his hand large enough to have his thumb brush across her cheek.

Blair felt her eyes widen but then they fluttered shut as he kissed her again. His lips were so soft but the kiss was too short to truly get a feel for them. Was that what she wanted? She couldn’t remember the last time she had kissed a boy – no, a man – who wasn’t Chuck. She didn’t know if she wanted to. She wasn’t like Serena and she couldn’t follow Serena’s advice about just moving on. She was twenty-one and had been with Chuck, in one form or another, since she was seventeen. She couldn’t just move on overnight. For as horrible their relationship was, it was still theirs and there had been times when she was with Chuck and she couldn’t had been happier.

“I’ll see you later,” he told her softly and then he was gone, leaving her with her suitcases in the middle of the hotel lobby.

She watched him go and then it took her another minute to navigate herself towards the elevator. She had absolutely no idea what was going on. She was too tired to analyze this like she did everything else. She couldn’t think of a reason though as she entered her hotel room why Jackson Avery was kissing her and why she was letting him.

She sighed with relief when she sat down on the edge of the bed and removed her heels. She had been wearing them for twenty-four hours now and even she, who wore heels every day, was unable to take it for that long amount of time. She looked at the clock on the nightstand next to the bed. It was only ten o’clock. For some reason, she felt as if it was much later. Outside, the rain still fell, tapping against the glass window panes and she stood up, crossing the room, the carpet cold underneath her bare feet. She stared outside, looking at the buildings around her still lit up but except for the rain, it was quiet. It was nothing like New York, that was for certain.

The lady down at the front desk had mentioned that the Archfield had a twenty-four hour kitchen and as Blair sat down on the bed again, looking over the room service menu, her cell phone vibrated and she picked it up, her entire body tensing upon seeing that Chuck had sent her another message. She didn’t want to open it but her fingers moved without her permission.

I need to talk to you and you’re not home. Where are you?

She stared down at his words and wondered why she still had him in her phone. Every time he sent her a message, which was more times than she would have thought considering they were broken up, she got the most painful ache in the center of her chest. She hated feeling like this. She was Blair freaking Waldorf and people actually used to quake when they saw her coming. She wasn’t supposed to let a man break her heart. She wasn’t supposed to get close to anyone to let them have the power of breaking her heart.

She wasn’t sure why but her fingers, instead of typing a reply, dialed his number instead. Her brain yelled at her to stop but none of her body seemed to be working together at the moment and her hand trembled as she held the phone up to her ear.

“Bass,” he answered and she knew that he hadn’t been looking at his caller i.d. when he had picked up.

“No, I’m not home,” she said, trying to keep her voice strong though she could hear her throat quiver slightly. She hated that he could do this to her.

“Where are you?” He asked in his near demanding tone. “You were supposed to be leaving Tokyo by now. Are you still there?”

She closed her eyes, exhaling a breath. “No, I’m not in Tokyo and I’m not in New York.”

“Where are you, Blair?” His patience was thinning but she still wanted to remain strong.

“I can’t tell you,” she shook her head.

“Why the hell not?” He then paused. “Are you okay?”

And just like that, she was reminded why she let him do this to her. Because one minute, he could be a complete bass-hole to her but then the next, he would lower and soften his voice and he would seem so genuinely concerned for her, it hurt for an entirely different reason. She hated being so damn weak when it came to him.

She managed to nod her head. “I’m fine. I just…”

“Come back home. We can talk once you get here,” he suggested, still talking gently.

…

Jackson knew that staring at the clock wasn’t going to make time go by faster but he couldn’t help himself. He had just stepped out of his and Dr. Hunt’s patient’s room and the first thing he did was look at the clock. Eleven-thirty. Just thirty minutes more and then he would be heading back to the Archfield. He wasn’t sure what to expect when he went back there but he didn’t care. He couldn’t understand why but he wanted to see Blair Waldorf again – and as soon as possible.

They had talked those two weeks she was in Tokyo and Jackson was a natural flirt. It was just his way. He had always been able to approach women and give them a smile and just be comfortable while having a conversation with them. And he had definitely felt that when he and Blair had talked with one another in the airport bar but there had been something else. Something that made him want to keep talking with her. Maybe it was the story she had told him – about wanting to live in Monet’s painting more than anything. There was a sadness there he didn’t understand but a longing in her tone that he knew all too well.

They had connected and neither of them could deny that no matter how hard she tried and to Jackson, Blair definitely seemed like the kind of girl who would fight a lot of things.

He stood at the nurse’s station, filling out the patient’s chart, trying to remember everything the patient had said to him, when from the corner of his eye, he saw his best friend, Lexie Sloan, formerly Grey, slide up next to him, a mischievous smile on her face.

He shook his head slightly. “If you and Sloan just had sex in the on-call room, I don’t want to hear about it.”

Lexie nudged him in the side with her elbow and he grinned. “Mark and me have a very private sex life, thank you very much.”

“That’s why everyone in this hospital knows what you sound like while having an orgasm,” he teased her and she punched him this time in the arm. He only laughed.

“Don’t be crude,” she said, her cheeks flushed red. “You’re getting off at midnight?”

“Yep,” he nodded, going back to scribbling in the chart.

“Want to get something to eat with me and Mark?” She asked. “We can go to Joe’s or… gasp, I know. Somewhere different.”

He smiled at that but then shook his head. “I can’t. I have… plans.”

Lexie leaned in, looking at him closely, and for a moment, he hated that she was his best friend and knew him so well. He wondered how his face looked to her right now. He tried to make it go completely blank and not reveal anything. He loved Lexie to death. She was his best friend and ever since Seattle Grace and Mercy West had merged a few years earlier, they had bonded from working together often. He normally had no problem telling Lexie anything and everything that was happening to him but this time, for some reason even unknown to him, he wanted to keep things quiet for a little bit.

Maybe because he had no idea what was going on between him and Blair.

She had been so friendly during their exchange of text messages. Witty and bright…definitely different from the couple of nurses and residents he had dated briefly over the years. Being a resident, time was not his own and he had found companionship from people in the hospital who understood work schedules. It had just been easier that way. But the women he had dated, nothing had obviously come from it. They may have been in the medical field but it was surprising just how stupid those people could be. When he had been dating them, Jackson had felt as if he had been dating a teenager.

With Blair though, she was sophisticated and intelligent and she knew things about books and art and movies. When he talked with her, he wasn’t bored and he realized that that’s what had been happening to him. He had been bored out of his mind but then he saw Blair Waldorf in the airport bar and it was like a breath of fresh air after being cooped up all winter. She actually kind of reminded him of Lexie in a way. Lexie was bubbly and warm and open – three things Blair didn’t seem to be – but they were both also knowledgeable on a matter of subjects.

Jackson could admit that he used to have a bit of a crush on Lexie but for as long as he had known her, she had belonged to Mark and their friendship had become too important for him. He didn’t feel like that towards her. Now, she was like his sister and they had that sort of relationship together. Lexie would probably love Blair if they ever met.

Lexie suddenly gasped. “Who is she?” She demanded to know.

Jackson almost groaned. He had no idea how she did that. “No one.”

“Yeah, right,” Lexie then smirked and it scared him how much her smirk looked like Mark’s. They had been together for too long. “Jackson Alan Avery, who is she?”

“No one,” he insisted, slapping the chart shut. “If she was anyone, if there was anyone, you would be the first to know. You know that, Lexie.”

“So what are your plans later tonight?” Lexie continued to press.

“I’m going to a strip club. Wanna come?” He smirked.

“You know I would love to come,” she smiled. “But… I don’t want to impose on you and… no one.” She almost rolled her eyes. “I’m not dropping this, by the way.”

“I wasn’t expecting you to,” Jackson smiled. He gave her shoulder a squeeze. “You and Mark have fun though and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“I can just follow you and spy,” Lexie said. “But I won’t because I love you and respect your privacy.”

He almost laughed. “No, you don’t,” he replied. Lexie didn’t say anything to that. Her mischievous smile returned and she turned, heading down the hallway away from him. He sighed heavily. “Where are you going, Lexie?” He called after her.

She turned to face him but she kept walking, now backwards. “I’m going to talk to Mark and try and get his binoculars without explaining to him why I need them!”

That made Jackson grin and he shook his head before looking at the clock on the again. Five minutes ‘till midnight. He felt himself still grinning but now, it was for an entirely different reason.